Method and apparatus for automatic sending of E-mail and automatic sending control program supplying medium

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for sending an E-mail, dispatching or delivering mail with an animated representation as if a pet were going in and out on a GUI picture simulating the inside of a room. In addition, the user can send an E-mail with a friendly feeling using an agent. By sending agent data which is updated responsive to experiences of an electronic pet as annexed papers to the E-mail, the animation appears as if an electronic pet were going in and out on a GUI picture simulating the inside of a room for dispatching or delivering a mail. The behavior of the animated pet is varied depending on the keeping environment. The electronic pet selects an illustrative sentence in keeping with the agent data from preset illustrative sentences for voluntary sending the sentence as an E-mail to a user who is a keeper or to a counterpart of past mailing of the user.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

The present invention is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/013,197 filed on Oct. 29, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,009 whichis a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/992,770 filedon Dec. 17, 1997, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,760,751 on Jul. 6,2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for automaticsending of an E-mail and an automatic sending program supplying medium,used in exchanging an E-mail between computer terminals of, for example,a personal computer, over a communication network.

As a configuration of utilizing the Internet, providing a global-scalecommunication network environment capable of exchanging the informationbetween mutually spaced-apart computers, an electronic mail (E-mail) isin widespread use.

In an Internet E-mail system, mail servers are provided in a distributedfashion in each domain. The client user sends or receives an E-mail toor from a mail server of the domain to which he or she belongs.

That is, a sender states the contents he or she desires to send andaccords a required address and name by a client tool for an E-mailtermed a mailer (software for sending/receiving the mail) for sendingthe mail to the receiver.

The mail server of a domain to which the sender belongs sends the mailfor transmission to a representative mail server of an organization. Therepresentative mail server accords an address of the server/node to bearrived at next to send the address to the network, which then refers tothe address to sequentially transfer the mail to the mail server towhich belongs the counterpart of the communication (receiver).

The receiver recognizes the arrival of the E-mail in his or her post byvarious means such as display of a notice of arrival on starting themailer so that he or she can read the sent mail.

For delivery of the E-mail, the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP),which is the upper-order protocol of the transmission control/InternetProtocol (TCP/IP), is used as the communication protocol. Usually, theformat is automatically formulated by the mailer. To the leading end ofthe main text of the mail is appended a header made up of rows stating adate [Date:], a name of mail sender [From:], an address [To:], a title[Subject:] or a carbon copy (blind carbon copy) [Bcc:], in accordancewith SMTP.

Although the E-mail system of the Internet is based on the text (letterinformation: character codes), an extension format, configured forenabling handling of languages other than English or multimedia such aspictures or speech, is also defined as multipurpose Internet mailextension (MIME). That is, still-picture information, moving pictureinformation or speech information is compressed and converted tocharacter codes which are assembled in the MIME system into the text andsent in this form. The receiver side automatically interprets the MIMEsystem to check the form in which the information is assembled into thetext to start a viewer/player tool for displaying/reproducing theinformation.

Such an E-mail system in which the picture information is annexed to theE-mail for enabling sending/reception of the E-mail made up ofco-existing pictures and letters is known from the Japanese Laid-openPatent Application JP-A-5-274233 assigned to the assignee of presentapplication. With this E-mail system, a terminal keyboard or a mouse isoperated for drawing or writing main text and a picture on a letter paddisplayed on a CRT and the keyboard or the mouse is further operated forissuing a send command for an E-mail. It is then determined whether orthe name of the receiver is stated on an uppermost row of the text. Ifthe receiver name is determined to be entered, an E-mail header made upof the receiver's name, sender's name and the current data isformulated. It is then checked whether a picture is drawn on the letterpad. If the picture is found to have been drawn, the picture informationdata made up of the page information stating the page of the letter padhaving the picture, the position information specifying the position ofthe picture and the picture title is formulated and appended to theE-mail header. The main text is then appended and sent as the E-mail.

Although the above-described E-mail system is highly convenient if oneis accustomed to it, the system is unfriendly to a user sending orreceiving the E-mail for the first time using a personal computer,because the system is significantly different from the usual letter ormail delivery system customarily used in everyday life. That is, theE-mail system can be utilized only after the user has learned and fullyunderstood the operating method for the mailer as the E-mail exchangingsoftware with the aid of a manual.

Recently, a set-top box, termed an Internet terminal, having assembledtherein the Internet accessing function, is on the market, such that auser not in possession of a personal computer can easily utilizeInternet services by connecting the Internet terminal to the televisionreceiver in his or her home. However, the mailer operating method cannotbe intuitively understood even by this Internet terminal user.

As the graphical user interface (GUI) which takes user-friendliness intoaccount, there is known a desk top metaphor picture imitating the desktop which is implemented by the operating system termed a Magic Cap®developed by General Magic Inc. FIG. 1 shows a typical display of theGUI picture of Magic Cap. This GUI picture images the metaphor of theevery-day tools or daily life environment using a desk top picture 300simulating a study. On this desk top picture 300 are displayed atimepiece 301 showing the current time, an inbox 302 showing the numberof received E-mails, an out-box 303 showing the number of E-mailsalready sent and a file cabinet 304 for keeping files. In addition, atelephone 305, an address book 306, a postcard 307 for formulating amessage sent by the E-mail, a notebook 308, and a schedule memorandum309, are displayed as being put on a desk fitted with a drawer so thatthese can be actuated by a pen touch.

However, although an image simulating an actual postcard is displayed inthe GUI picture by Magic Cap, the process of receiving and deliveringthe postcard 307 or the process of arrival of the postcard from anotheruser is not displayed, such that the user cannot intuitively comprehendthe delivery process. That is, the user cannot surmise the process orthe exchanging method of the E-mails or the operating method from thecustomary letter delivery system.

Meanwhile, there is disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open PatentApplication JP-A-3-222033, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,628, atechnique concerning GUI which enables intuitive accessing to electronicdata of a desk top metaphor picture simulating a room by amoving-picture-like icon, as an interface for a data processing device,the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a methodand apparatus for automatic sending of an E-mail and an automaticsending program supplying medium, according to which not only a user canentrust his or her mail to a pet as an agent acting on his or her behalfto enable facilitated sending/reception of the E-mail by an intuitivelycomprehensible operation under utilization of the real-world-orientedGUI, but also the user or client can use the agent with a friendlyfeeling.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for automatic sending of an E-mail and an automatic sendingprogram supplying medium, according to which the function of the agentcan be terminated at a time when the user has lost interest in thecontents of the E-mail voluntarily sent by the agent and this effect canbe intimated to the user or his or her counterpart by an E-mailaddressed to the user or to his or her counterpart.

In a method and apparatus for automatic sending of an E-mail and anautomatic sending program supplying medium, according to the presentinvention, agent parameters controlling the behavior of an agentdelivering an E-mail are appended to the main mail text, having anappended mail header, responsive to a send command designating thesending of the E-mail, for sending to a counterpart of E-mailing of auser. The agent parameters are modified responsive to the contents ofexperiences reflecting the operating hysteresis for the agent. An E-mailof a preset illustrative sentence is sent by the agent to the user basedon the agent parameters. Thus, the user (client) can send an E-mail byan intuitively comprehensible simple operation by the agent acting onhis or her behalf by exploiting the real-world-oriented GUI, while theuser (client) can use the agent with an amicable feeling for the agent.

In an alternative method and apparatus for automatic sending of anE-mail and an automatic sending program supplying medium, according tothe present invention, agent parameters controlling the behavior of anagent delivering an E-mail are appended to the main mail text, having anappended mail header, responsive to a sending command designating thesending of the E-mail, for sending to a counterpart of E-mailing of auser. The agent parameters are modified responsive to the contents ofexperiences reflecting the agent's operating hysteresis. An E-mail of apreset illustrative sentence is sent by the agent to a counterpart ofE-mailing of the user based on the agent parameters. Thus, the user(client) can send an E-mail by an intuitively comprehensible simpleoperation by the agent acting on his or her behalf by exploiting thereal-world-oriented GUI, while the counterpart of E-mailing of the usercan respond to the mail with an amicable feeling for the agent, thusassuring mail exchange with a friendly feeling.

In a still alternative method and apparatus for automatic sending of anE-mail and an automatic sending program supplying medium, according tothe present invention, agent parameters controlling the behavior of anagent delivering an E-mail are appended to the main mail text, having anappended mail header, responsive to a sending command designating thesending of the E-mail, for sending to a counterpart of E-mailing of auser. The agent parameters are modified responsive to the contents ofexperiences reflecting the operating hysteresis for the agent. An E-mailof a preset illustrative sentence is sent by the agent to the user or toa counterpart of E-mailing of the user based on the agent parameters.Thus, both the sender and the receiver of the E-mail can have a commonconsciousness of keeping electronic pets, thus assuring mail exchangewith a friendly feeling.

According to the present invention, the process of exchanging an E-mailis represented as an agent behavior simulating the letter dispatchingand delivery in everyday life, thus enabling the function or theoperating procedure to be surmised easily, such that even a beginner canlearn and utilize E-mailing easily. By the sending side sending agentdata updated responsive to the experiences of the electronic pet asannexed papers to the E-mail, and by the receiving side automaticallyreturning only pet data, the E-mail can be sent or received withanimated display as though the pet were going in and out on a GUIpicture simulating the insides of both the sender's room and thereceiver's room. In addition, the electronic pet, displayed byanimation, can be virtually kept. That is, by updating the agent datadetermining the character or the behavior of the pet responsive to mouseactuation by the user, such as caressing or serving refreshments, and byvarying the pet behavior responsive to the keeping environment, theelectronic pet, displayed by animation, can be virtually kept. Inaddition, the electronic pet can select one of the preset illustrativesentences in keeping with the agent data to send the selected sentenceas an E-mail to the user or to his or her E-mailing counterpart.

By exchanging the E-mail by the electronic pet virtually kept on the GUIpicture simulating the insides of both the sender's room and thereceiver's room, both the sender and the receiver can have a commonconsciousness of keeping pets thus assuring E-mailing amicable feeling.

Moreover, by having agent picture data on both the user's computer andthe receiver's computer, and by actually sending agent parameterscontrolling the agent's behavior, the result as if the picture data ofthe agent were being sent is realized. By sending the agent parametersinstead of the picture data, the user connection time can be reduced,such that, for a dial-up user, Internet connection charges and telephonecharges can be saved. Moreover, the use of resources of the Internet intheir entirety can also be reduced because a smaller volume of exchangeddata suffices.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention aredescribed in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription of the Invention and the Figures.

Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will beapparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a display example of the GUI picture of Magic Cap®.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an E-mail system accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’ displayed on starting amailer installed on a personal computer with the E-mail system.

FIG. 4 shows the type of a PostPet prepared in the mailer.

FIG. 5 shows a GUI picture ‘Write a Mail’ represented on the mailer.

FIG. 6 shows a GUI picture of a ‘reception list’ represented on themailer.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of an E-mail sent by the PostPet.

FIG. 8 shows the type of an agent parameter annexed to the main text ofan E-mail sent by the PostPet.

FIG. 9 shows an example of an agent parameter annexed to the main textof an E-mail sent by the PostPet.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the entire processing function of themailer.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the contents of send processing by themailer.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the contents of receive processing by themailer.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the contents of update processing for theagent parameter by the mailer.

FIG. 14 shows the state of instructing mail sending by a postman in theGUI picture ‘Write a Mail’ represented by the mailer.

FIG. 15 shows the state of the GUI picture ‘PostPet (Room)’ in case mailsend procedure is commanded by a postman.

FIG. 16 similarly shows the state of the GUI picture ‘PostPet (Room)’ incase mail send procedure is commanded by the postman.

FIG. 17 similarly shows the state of the GUI picture ‘PostPet (Room)’ incase mail send procedure is commanded by the postman.

FIG. 18 similarly shows the state of the GUI picture ‘PostPet (Room)’ incase mail send procedure is commanded by the postman.

FIG. 19 similarly shows the state of the GUI picture ‘PostPet (Room)’ incase mail send procedure is commanded by the postman.

FIG. 20 shows the state of commanding mail send procedure by the PostPeton the GUI picture ‘Write a Mail’ represented by the mailer.

FIG. 21 shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’ when mailsend procedure is commanded by a post pet.

FIG. 22 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when mail send procedure is commanded by the post pet.

FIG. 23 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when mail send procedure is commanded by the post pet.

FIG. 24 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when mail send procedure is commanded by the post pet.

FIG. 25 shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’ when anE-mail is received by the post pet.

FIG. 26 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when an E-mail is received by the post pet.

FIG. 27 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when an E-mail is received by the post pet.

FIG. 28 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when an E-mail is received by the post pet.

FIG. 29 shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’ when themail has been sent by the post pet and the post pet has returned.

FIG. 30 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when the mail has been sent by the post pet and the post pet hasreturned.

FIG. 31 similarly shows the state of a GUI picture of ‘PostPet (Room)’when the mail has been sent by the post pet and the post pet hasreturned.

FIG. 32 shows the state of clicking an icon commanding looking after apost pet on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 33 shows the state of clicking an icon commanding looking after thepost pet on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ for opening apulldown menu.

FIG. 34 shows the state in which an item ‘refreshment’ of the pulldownmenu on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ is selected for openingthe window.

FIG. 35 shows the state of clicking a button ‘served’ on a window openedon selecting ‘refreshment’ on the pull-down menu on the GUI picture ofthe ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 36 shows the state in which an item ‘Wash’ of the pulldown menu onthe GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ has been selected.

FIG. 37 shows the state in which the post pet on the pull-down menu onthe GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ is contaminated.

FIG. 38 shows the state in which an item ‘Re-Ordering’ of the pulldownmenu on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ is selected.

FIG. 39 shows the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ when there-ordering is executed.

FIG. 40 shows the state in which an item ‘State of Pet’ of the pulldownmenu on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ is selected.

FIG. 41 shows the display state of a pointing cursor positioned outsideof a room on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 42 shows the display state of a pointing cursor positioned within aroom on the GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 43 shows the state of caressing the post pet on the GUI picture ofthe ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 44 shows the state of caressing the post pet on the GUI picture ofthe ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 45 shows the state of caressing the post pet on the GUI picture ofthe ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 46 shows the state of hitting the post pet on the GUI picture ofthe ‘PostPet (Room).’

FIG. 47 is a timing chart showing the sequence of E-mail exchange in astate in which two personal computers each having installed therein themailer are connected concurrently to the communication network.

FIG. 48 is a timing chart showing the sequence of E-mail exchange in astate in which two personal computers each having installed therein themailer are connected with a time offset to the communication network.

FIG. 49 is a flowchart showing event processing of a feeling unit whichgoverns the behavior of the post pet.

FIG. 50 illustrates the technique of determining the behavior of a postpet by an agent parameter.

FIG. 51 shows the basic structure of the feeling unit.

FIG. 52 schematically shows sending a mail A form a user A to anotheruser B by the post pet.

FIG. 53 schematically shows capturing the mail A by the user B.

FIG. 54 schematically shows automatic mail returning of an agentparameter by the user B.

FIG. 55 schematically shows reception of an agent parameterautomatically returned from the user B.

FIG. 56 shows a GUI picture for selecting the post pet.

FIG. 57 shows a GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ in which Hatena-kunmade debut.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention is applied to an electronicmail (E-mail) system in which an E-mail is exchanged between pluralpersonal computers 21, 22 connected respectively to Internet 10 viapublic telephone switched networks 1, 2 and via Internet serviceproviders 11, 12.

The Internet service provider 11 is constituted by a router 11A, acommunication server 11 C and a mail server 11 D interconnected byLocal. Area Network (LAN) 11B. There is provided in the mail server 11Da mail spool 11E constituted by a hard disc drive for transient storageof the E-mail. The communication server 11C includes a modem 11F forconnection over a public telephone switched network 1 to the personalcomputer 21. The Internet service provider 11 transfers the E-mail, sentfrom a personal computer 21 of a client user connected by dial-up IPover the public telephone switched network 1 to the communication server11C, to a mail server 11 D, which then transfers this transferred E-mailover the Internet 10 to a mail server (not shown) of an Internet serviceprovider 12 of the domain to which the receiver (counterpart ofcommunication) belongs. When an E-mail addressed to a client user overthe Internet 10 is transferred to the Internet service provider 11, thelatter stores the mail in a mail spool 11E to transfer the mail to theclient user whenever a transfer request is made from the valid clientuser. Meanwhile, other Internet service providers 12, etc., also haveE-mail storage and transferring function similar to that of the Internetservice provider 11.

The personal computer 21 of the client user of the Internet serviceprovider 11 includes a main body portion 21A, a CRT display device 21B,a keyboard 21C and a mouse 21D. The main body portion 21A is providedwith a central processing unit (CPU) 21 a, a read-only memory (ROM) 21b, a random-access memory (RAM) 21 c, a hard disc drive (HDD) 21 d, afloppy-disc drive (FDD) 21 e, a CD-ROM drive 21 f, a cathode ray tubecontroller (CRTC) as a display controller 21 g, a modem 21 h, aninterfacing (I/F) unit 21 i and a video RAM 21 j. The CRT display device21B is connected to the display controller 21 g, while the keyboard 21Cand the mouse 21D are connected to the interfacing unit 21 i.

The personal computer 21 is connected via the main body portion 21A tothe public telephone switched network 1.

The personal computer 21 operates as a mailer by reading out andinstalling an E-mail sending/receiving program stored in the CD-ROMdrive 21E. Meanwhile, the E-mail sending/receiving program may also bedownloaded and installed from, for example, the following URLhttp://www.sonet.or.p./postpst/index.html of a World Wide Web (WWW)server on the Internet 10 managed by SONY COMMUNICATION NETWORK KK overthe Internet service provider 11 and the public telephone switchednetwork 1.

Therefore, the program purveying medium within the scope of the presentinvention means not only the recording medium such as CD-ROM 21E butalso a medium in the broad sense of the term including Internet ordigital satellite data broadcast.

In the present embodiment, other personal computers 22 also operate as amailer by having installed therein the same E-mail sending/receivingprograms as the above personal computer 21.

If, in the personal computer 21 having installed therein theabove-mentioned E-mail sending/receiving program, the mailer is started,the CPU 21 a generates bit map data corresponding to the graphical userinterface (GUI) picture simulating a room to write the bit map data onthe video RAM 21 j of the display controller 21 g for causing thedisplay controller 21 g to display the GUI picture 100 of FIG. 2 on thescreen of the display device 21B.

For superposed display of a pointing cursor 101 on the GUI picture 100,the CPU 21 a writes the bit map data of the pointing cursor 101 at apreset position of the video RAM 21 j. This displays the pointing cursor101 at a position specified by the mouse 21D on the GUI picture 100displayed on the screen of the display device 21B.

On the top of the GUI picture 100, its title 102 is displayed. On theGUI picture 100 shown in FIG. 2 is displayed ‘PostPet (Room)’ as a title102. Meanwhile, the post pet and the post pet are trademarks of a mailerwhich is an Internet E-mail sending/receiving program purveyed by SONYCOMMUNICATION NETWORK KK.

For superposed display on the GUI picture 100 of a post pet 103simulating a bear doll and a postman 104 simulating a robot doll asagents for performing E-mail sending/reception, the CPU 21 e writes bitmap data of the post pet 103 and the postman 104 at preset positions onthe RAM 21 j in superposition on the bit map data corresponding to theGUI picture 100. This displays the post pet 103 and the postman 104 onthe GUI screen 100.

As characters of the post pet 103, there are provided teddy bear (Momo)103 simulating a bear, a tortoise (Sumiko) 103B, a hybrid cat (Furo)103C, a mini-rabbit (Mippi) 103D and a Hatena-kun 103E, as shown, forexample in FIG. 4. One of these excluding Hatena-kun 103E can beregistered and used as the post pet 103, as an agent. The post pet 103has its behavior determined by agent parameters varied by the learningfunction as later explained.

On the left-side portion of the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’shown in FIG. 3 are displayed a mail writing icon 105A, a reception listicon 105B, a sending list icon 105C for commanding display of a GUIpicture of a sending list and a mail check icon 105D for commanding theconnection.

The user operates the mouse 21D for moving the pointing cursor 101 onthe mail writing icon 105A on the GUI picture of the above-mentioned‘PostPet (Room)’ to click the mail writing icon 105A. This causes theCPU 21 a to write the bit map data, corresponding to the GUI picture 100of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ and a ‘Write a Mail’ GUI picture 110 superposedthereon, at a preset position on the video RAM 21 j, such that the GUIpicture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ and the ‘Write a Mail’ GUI picture110 are displayed by multiple window representation on the screen of thedisplay device 21B.

On top of the GUI picture 110 is displayed ‘Write a Mail’ as a title112. The upper and lower halves of the ‘Write a Mail’ GUI picture 110represent a first display area 113 for displaying the contents of themail header and a second display area 114 for displaying the mailcontents, respectively. In the first display area 113, there isdisplayed the header information, such as the address [To:], name ofmail sender [From:], title [Subject:], carbon copy [Color conversion:]or attachment [Attachment:], entered by actuation of the keyboard 2 1 Cby the user are displayed. In the first display area 113, an icon 115Ais displayed for handing over to a pet for instructing mail dispatch bythe post pet 103 and an icon 115B for handing over to the postman 104for instructing mail dispatch by the postman 104.

In the second display area 114 is displayed the main text of the mailentered upon keyboard actuation by the user.

If the user actuates the mouse 21D to shift the pointing cursor 101 overthe icon 115A of handing over to the pet on the GUI picture 110 of‘Writing a Mail’ and clicks a mouse button, the CPU 21 a executesprocessing steps SP20 to SP27 of the send subroutine processing to sendthe pet mail, as will be explained below with reference to FIG. 11 e.

Specifically, the CPU 21 a formulates data of an E-mail composed of amain text 202 with a mail header 201 added thereto and an agentparameter 203 determining the behavior of the post pet 103 attached tothe main text, and sends the data as pet mail to the receiver. The agentparameter 203 is each made up of 4-byte data of the sending datainformation 203A specifying the mail sending date, mail life information203B specifying whether or not the receiver has to modify the mail toreturn it to the sender, serial number information 203C specifying thenumber of mails handled so far by the post pet, and the post petparameter information 203D, such as the information of the environment,stimulus or desire information of the post pet.

The post pet parameter information 203D is made up of the innerinformation and the outer information, as shown in FIG. 8. The innerinformation is made up of, for example, mail count, age, sex,intelligence, vigor, friendship (with the keeper), hunger, happiness,cleanliness, bio-rhythm (indefinite element), noise (indefiniteelement), friendship (with the counterpart), positiveness/negativeness(+/−), cheerfulness/gloominess (+/−), gentleness/coldness (+/−),concentration/diffuseness (+/−), fashionability/rusticity,fashionability, attractiveness or taste for gourmet. The outerparameters are made up of, for example, position, comfortableness of aroom, user action-number of times of hitting, guest action-called, guestaction-shown friendship, guest action-shown hostility, guestaction-giving items and guest action-demanding items. These parametersare entered into the feeling unit as later explained to start thebehavior unit to determine the behavior of the post pet 10.

The above-mentioned agent parameters 203 are converted into Base 64format employing letters A to Z, a to z and 0 to 9 in accordance withthe Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) of the Internet mail.FIG. 8 shows an example of the agent parameters 203 annexed to the maintext of the mail 202. The MIME provides two types of encoding methods.In the Base 64 stated in Request for Comments (RFC) 1512, 3 bytes aredivided into four equal parts to narrow the code width to accommodatethe values specified by the bytes in 64 numerical figures of from 0 to63 to which letter codes of A to Z, a to z and 0 to 9 are accorded.Further details on RFC is disclosed in D. Corner, “Internet working withICP/IP TCP/IP-470154-2, 025.

If the user actuates the mouse 21D to move the pointing cursor 101 onthe icon 115B of handing over the GUI picture 110 of ‘Writing a Mail’ tothe postman to click the mouse button, the CPU 21 a executes theprocessing from SP29 to SP33 in the sending subroutine processing aslater explained with reference to FIG. 10 in order to send the usualmail.

That is, the CPU 21 a simply formulates data of an E-mail made up of themain text 202 of the mail added to with the mail header 201 and sends itto the counterpart as the usual E-mail.

Referring to FIGS. 9 to 12, the operation of the personal computer 21having installed therein the above-mentioned E-mail sending/receivingprogram, is hereinafter explained.

First, steps SP 1 to SP 13 of the general flowchart, comprehensivelyshowing the entire operation of FIG. 9, is explained.

At step SP 1 of FIG. 9, it is determined whether the operation by theuser is the operation on a pet owned by no one other than the user. Thatis, if the mouse 21D is actuated by the user such that the operation ofsuperposing the pointing cursor 101 shown in FIG. 3 on the post pet 103(on the teddy-bear 103A in the case of FIG. 3), shifting the mouse 21Dleft or right or clicking the mouse button is carried out, or, if ‘wash’or ‘refreshments’ are selected from the looking-after pulldown menu, asshown in FIG. 34, such that the operation of looking after the post pet103 is carried out, these operations by the user are judged to be theoperation for his or her own pet (the pet owned by the user). In thiscase, the processing transfers to step SP2, otherwise, the processingtransfers to step SP4.

At step SP2, the agent parameters of the user's own pet, read out onstartup of the E-mail sending/receiving program from HDD 21 d and storedin RAM 21 c, are updated. The processing for updating the agentparameters will be explained later in detail with reference to FIG. 13.

At the next step SP3, the processing for animated representation of thebehavior of the user's own pet in association with the updated agentparameters is executed before processing reverts to step SP1.

If, at step SP1, the operations are judged as not being the operationson the user's own pet such that the processing transfers to step SP4, itis determined at this step SP4 whether the mail writing icon 105A hasbeen clicked. If the result of the determination at step SP4 isaffirmative, processing transfers to step SP5, and, otherwise, to stepSP7.

At step SP5, the sub-routine of entering the header of the E-mail to besent or the main text is executed. First, the GUI picture 110 of‘Writing a Mail’ shown in FIG. 5 is displayed, after which the E-mailheader or the main text is formulated in accordance with the textinputting command by the user before processing transfers to step SP6.

At step SP6, the sending subroutine explained subsequently withreference to FIG. 11 is executed before processing reverts to step SP 1.

At step SP7, it is determined whether the reception list icon 105B hasbeen clicked. If the result of the determination is affirmative,processing transfers to step SP8, or otherwise, to step SP9. At stepSP8, the reception list display subroutine for displaying a GUI picture120 of the ‘reception list’ shown in FIG. 6 is executed beforeprocessing reverts to step SP 1.

At step SP9, it is determined whether or not the sending list 105C hasbeen clicked. If the result of the determination is affirmative, theprocessing transfers to step SP10, or otherwise, to step SP11. At stepSP10, the reception list displaying subroutine for displaying the‘sending list’ GUI picture (not shown) is executed, before processingreverts to step SP1.

At step SP11, it is determined whether the mail check icon 105D has beenclicked. If the result of the determination is affirmative, processingtransfers to step SP12, or otherwise, to step SP13. At step SP 12, thereception subroutine explained subsequently with reference to FIG. 12 isexecuted before processing reverts to step SP1. At step SP13, otherprocessing operations are executed before processing reverts to stepSP1.

Next, the steps SP20 to SP33 of the flowchart of the sending subroutineprocessing of FIG. 11 is explained.

If the user actuates the mouse 21D to move the pointing cursor 101 onthe icon 115A of handing over to the pet on the GUI picture 110 of‘Write a Mail’ and clicks the mouse button, as shown in FIG. 20, it isdetermined that the icon 115A of handing over to the pet has beenoperated, such that processing transfers from step SP20 to step SP21 todetermine whether a pet-at-home flag stored in the RAM 21 c is ‘1’. Ifthe user's pet is at home, that is, if the pet-at-home flag is ‘1’, thesubsequent steps SP22 to SP27 are executed to send the pet mail.

In other words, E-mail data composed of the mail main text 202 with themail header 201 appended thereto and the agent parameters 203determining the behavior of the post pet 103, appended as annexedpapers, is formulated and sent as a pet mail to a counterpart ofcommunication.

In this case, the pet mail can be sent only when the pet-at-home flag is‘1’, that is if the user's pet is at home.

First, if a connection is made at step SP22 to the mail server 11D ofthe service provider 11 for requesting mail transfer in accordance withthe transfer protocol of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), andconnection is judged at the next step SP23 to have been made, theprocessing transfers to step SP24. At this step SP24, the user's own pet(teddy-bear 103A shown in FIG. 3) deems the E-mail of the keeper asbeing a letter, and animation display is made such that the pet opens adoor 107 for outing for recovering the letter posted in a mail post 106for delivery to the receiver. At the next step SP25, the agentparameters of the user's pet, stored in the RAM 21C, is encoded by theencoding method prescribed in Base 64 of MIME. At the next step SP26,the encoded agent parameters are annexed to the main text 202 as annexedpapers. This pet mail is sent to the mail server 11D.

At step SP27, the pet-at-home flag stored in the RAM 21 c, is set to‘0’, that is, to absence, before processing transfers to step SP28 tobreak the connection to the mail server 11D) to complete a series of thesending subroutine processing. Then, the processing reverts to step SP1of FIG. 10.

On the other hand, if the user operates the mouse 21D to move thepointing cursor 101 on the icon 115 b of handing over to the postman onthe GUI picture 110 of ‘Write a Mail’ to click the mouse button, it isjudged that the icon 115B of handing over to the postman has beenactuated. Thus, the processing transfers from step SP20 through stepSP29 to step SP30 so that the processing from steps SP30 to SP33 isexecuted to send the usual E-mail.

That is, E-mail data composed simply of the mail main text 202 havingappended thereto the mail header 201 is formulated and sent to thecounterpart as the usual E-mail.

First, at step SP30, a connection is made to the mail server 11D of theservice provider 11 for requesting a mail transfer based on the SMTPtransfer protocol. If, at the next step SP31, the connection is judgedto have been completed, the processing transfers to step SP32 to displayan animation in which the postman 104 deems the E-mail of the keeper asbeing a letter to recover the letter posted in the mail post 106 to goout for mail delivery, as shown in FIGS. 15 to 19. At the next stepSP33, the usual E-mail is sent to the mail server 11D), after which, theprocessing transfers to step SP28 to cancel the connection to the mailserver 11D to complete a series of the send subroutine operations toreturn to the step SP1 of FIG. 10.

If neither the icon 115A for handing over to the pet nor the icon 115Bof handing over to the postman has been operated at steps SP20 and SP29,with the closure box on the upper right side of the GUI picture 110 of‘Write a Mail’ being clicked, the mail writing window is judged at stepSP34 to be closed, such that processing reverts to step SP1 of FIG. 10without executing the above-mentioned sending subroutine.

Next, steps SP40 to SP59 of the reception subroutine of FIG. 12 isexplained.

First, at step SP40, connection is made to the mail server 11D of theservice provider 11, based on the communication protocol of the PostOffice Protocol Version 3 (POP3) which is the upper order protocol ofTCP/IP. If the connection has been judged at the next step SP41 to havebeen completed, the processing transfers to step SP42 to make an inquiryas to whether there is a mail addressed to the user in a mail drop ofthe mail server 11D. This personal mail directory is an area forarriving mail for personal use, usually termed a mail drop, and has thefunction similar to a private box of a post office.

If it is judged at step SP42 that there is an arriving mail, theprocessing transfers to step SP43. If it is judged that there is noarriving mail, the processing transfers to step SP50 to cancel theconnection to the mail server 11D to terminate a series of the receptionsubroutine operations before the processing reverts to step SP I of FIG.10.

If it is determined at step SP42 that there is an arriving mail in themail drop, the E-mail addressed to the user is received at step SP43from the mail server 11D. At the next step SP44, it is determined, basedon data of the mail header 201 of the E-mail addressed to the user,whether the E-mail is the pet mail. If the received E-mail is judged atstep SP44 to be the pet mail, the processing transfers to step SP45 todetermine whether the mail received is the return mail to the pet maildispatched by the user.

If the pet mail sent by the user is automatically reception processed bythe receiver, the mail text 202 is deleted and a part of the sent petmail composed of the mail header 201 and the agent parameters annexedthereto as the annexed papers is returned as the return mail.

If the received pet mail is judged at step SP45 to be the return mail tothe pet mail dispatched by the user, the processing transfers to stepSP46 to set the pet-at-home flag stored in the RAM 21 c to ‘1’, that isto ‘at home’, before the processing transfers to step SP47 to decode theannexed papers encoded by the encoding method prescribed by the Base 64of MIME.

At the next step SP48, the agent parameters of the user's pet stored inthe RAM 21 c are updated based on the decoded agent parameters. At thenext step SP49, the processing of displaying an animation in which theuser's pet opens the door to return home with the behavior correspondingto the updated agent parameters is executed.

Then, the processing transfers to step SP50 to cancel the connection tothe mail server 111) to complete a series of reception subroutineoperations before the processing reverts to step SP1 of FIG. 10.

Conversely, if it is judged at step SP45 that the received pet mail isnot the return mail to the user's pet mail, the processing transfers tostep SP51 to execute the updating processing accompanying the additionof newly arriving mail to the Table-of-Contents (TOC) file.

The TOC file is a reception list file stored on a client's local disc(HDD 21 d), and is a file composed of an extracted portion of the mailheader 201. Specifically, the TOC file is made up of TO, FROM, CC,Subject, priorities, attachment flags indicating the presence or absenceof the annexed papers, sort flags indicating whether the mail is a petmail, and addresses in the local disc of the mail main text 202corresponding to the mail header 201.

When the reception list is first opened, a list of received mails isdisplayed. This list is formulated from the TOC file. If a mail isdesignated from the list, the main text 202 of the corresponding addressis sliced from the mail file (collective file of the main texts of themail 202).

For example, if the TOC file reads: FROM: aaaaaaipd.sony.co.jp,Subject:Patent for POS:Pet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address(from 1100 to 1120), and the main text of the mail 202 is to bedisplayed, the text corresponding to addresses 1100 to 1120 of the mailfile is sliced and displayed.

Next, at step SP52, the update processing accompanying the addition ofnewly arriving mail of the mail file is executed. After updating themail file having stored therein the main text 202, processing transfersto step SP53 to decode the annexed papers encoded by the encoding methodprescribed by the Base 64 of MIME.

At the next step SP54, the processing of displaying the animation inwhich the pet of the counterpart of communication (teddy-bear 103A inFIGS. 25 to 28) opens the door 107 to make a call and stays for a presettime to then open the door to return home. If, during the time thecounterpart pet stays indoors, the user operates the mouse 21D tosuperpose the pointing cursor 101 over the counterpart pet to move themouse 21D left and right or to click the mouse button, the agentparameters of the counterpart pet are updated at step SP55 based on theactuation by the user. Next, at step SP56, the agent parameters of thecounterpart pet are encoded by the encoding method prescribed by Base 64of MIME.

At the next step SP57, the encoded agent parameters are annexed asannexed papers to the mail header 201. The pet mail, thus formulated, isautomatically returned to the mail server 11D).

Then, the processing transfers to step SP50 to cancel the connection tothe mail server 11D to complete a series of the reception subroutineoperations before the processing reverts to step SP1 of FIG. 9.

If it is judged at step SP44, based on the data of the mail header 201of the received E-mail addressed to the user, that the received E-mailis not the pet mail, but rather is a usual E-mail, the processingtransfers to step SP58 to update the TOC file. Then, the processingtransfers to step SP50 to cancel the connection to the mail server 11D)to complete a series of the reception subroutine operations beforeprocessing reverts to step SP1 of FIG. 9.

Next, steps SP60 to SP97 of the agent parameter updates processing shownin FIG. 12 are hereinafter explained.

Referring to the flowchart of FIG. 13, the CPU 21 a monitors at stepSP60 whether the pointing cursor 101 displayed on the screen of thedisplay device 21B has moved into a window area of ‘PostPet (Room)’. Ifthe pointing cursor 101 is outside the window area of ‘PostPet (Room)’,pulldown menu processing or the like processing is executed at stepSP61. If the pointing cursor 101 goes into the window area of ‘PostPet(Room)’, that is into the room, the pointing cursor 101 is changed atstep SP62 to an open hand shape. Thus, if the pointing cursor 101 ispositioned outside the room on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet(Room)’, as shown in FIG. 40, the pointing cursor 101 is represented asan arrow, whereas, if it goes into the room, as shown in FIG. 41, it isdisplayed in an open hand shape.

The CPU 21 a determines at step SP63 whether the pointing cursor 101 hastraversed the display area of the post pet image by the reciprocatingmovement of the mouse 21D in the left and right direction. If the resultof determination is YES, that is if the pointing cursor 101 hastraversed the display area of the post pet image, the CPU 21 a deemsthat the post pet has been caressed, and executes at step SP64 anupdating processing routine for the agencies A1 to A18 of variousdesires as later explained. Thus, on the GUI picture 100 of ‘PostPet(Room)’, the pointing cursor 101 represented by the open hand shape, isreciprocated in the left-and-right direction on the post pet 103 forcaressing the post pet 103, as shown in FIGS. 42 to 44.

The CPU 21 a determines at step SP65 whether the pointing cursor 101 hasbeen moved into the display area of the post pet image and the mousebutton of the mouse 21D has been clicked. If the result of thedetermination is affirmative, that is, if the mouse 21D has been clickedwhen the pointing cursor 101 is in the post pet image display area, theCPU 21 a alters at step SP66 the pointing cursor 101 to the shape of aclenched fist to execute update processing routines of the agencies A1to A18 of various desires at step SP67 on the assumption that the postpet has been struck. Thus, on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet(Room)’, the post pet 103 can be struck on the pointing cursor 101displayed in the shape of a clenched fist, as shown in FIG. 45.

When executing mail sending by the postman 104, the CPU 21 asequentially alters bit map data of the postman 104 on the video RAM 21j to cause the display controller 21 g to display on the display device21B an animation in which the postman 104 moves on the GUI picture 100of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ to recover the mail posted into the mail post106 to deliver the recovered mail.

Specifically, if the icon 10B of handing over to the postman 104 forcommanding mail dispatch by the postman on the GUI picture 110 of‘Writing a Mail’ is clicked as shown in FIG. 15, an animation display ismade such that the postman 104 makes a debut from the left side on theGUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ as shown in FIG. 14 and moves tothe site of the mail post 106 as shown in FIG. 15, the postman 104 thenrecovering the mail posted in the mail post 106 as shown in FIG. 16 andstarting delivering the mail posted in the mail post 106, as shown inFIGS. 18 and 19.

Also, when executing the mail send by the post pet 103, the CPU 21 asequentially alters the bit map data of the post pet 103 on the videoRAM 21 j to cause the display controller 21 g to display on the displaydevice 21B an animation in which the post pet 103 carrying the mailmoves on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ as shown in FIG. 4as far as the door 107 on foot to open the door.

Specifically, if the icon 115A of handing over to the pet for commandingmail dispatch by the post pet 103 on the GUI picture 110 of ‘Writing aMail’ as shown in FIG. 19, is clicked, an animation display is made suchthat the post pet 103 moves on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet(Room)’ as far as the mail post 106 as shown in FIG. 20, the post pet103 recovers the mail posted in the mail post 106 as shown in FIG. 21and the post pet 103 carrying the mail then moves as far as the door 107to open the door as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. At this time, a messagewhich reads: “Momo (name of the pet) went out for mail dispatching”specifying mail dispatching by the post pet 103 is displayed on thelower side of the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’.

It should be noted that mail sending by the post pet 103 sends a soleE-mail by a sole post pet 103, that is, by a sole agent, while mailsending cannot be executed if the post pet 103 is absent on the GUIpicture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’, that is, if the post pet 103 is anouting.

Conversely, mail sending by the postman 104 sends one or more E-mails bya sole postman 104, that is, by a sole agent, and can be executed at anytime. If the post pet 103 is absent on the GUI picture 100 of the‘PostPet (Room)’, that is, if the post pet 103 is an outing, mailsending can be done by the postman 104.

The above-described behavior of the post pet is determined by the agentparameters attached to the mail, such that, if, upon mail reception bythe post pet there are agent parameters, the CPU 21 a causes the displaycontroller 21 g to display on the screen of the display controller 21 ganimation to indicate that the post pet 103D, for example, on the GUIpicture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ opens the door 107 to go into theroom to put the mail on the table 108 to then walk around in the room byway of performing post pet behavior as defined by the above-mentionedagent parameters.

Specifically, if, upon mail reception by the post pet, there are agentparameters, animation display is made in where the door 107 is firstopened on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ as shown in FIG.24, and the post pet 103A then enters the room as shown in FIG. 25 toput the mail on the table 108 as shown in FIG. 26, the post pet 103Athen walks around in the room to then go out to close the door 107 asshow in FIG. 27. At this time, a message reading: “Momo of Mr. Baba hascome” is displayed on the lower side of the GUI picture 100 of the‘PostPet (Room)’.

If the user operates the mouse 21D to click the post pet 103B on the GUIpicture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ by pointing cursor 101 or acts onthe keyboard 21C, the CPU 21 a executes changes pre-defined inassociation with the contents of the operation to process the agentparameters determining the behavior of the post pet 103B. Specifically,the CPU processes the agent parameters responsive to the operating ofcaressing or hitting the post pet 103B by the operation of the mouse21D.

The CPU 21 a automatically returns the processed agent parameters to thesending side.

Upon reception of the automatically returned agent parameters, the CPU21 a causes the display controller 21 g to display on the screen of thedisplay device 21B an animation in which the door 107 is first opened onthe GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ as shown in FIG. 28, thepost pet 103 entering the room as shown in FIG. 29 and closing the door107 as shown in FIG. 30. At this time, a message reading: “Momo (pet'sname) has come back” is displayed on the lower side of the GUI picture100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’.

If the icon 115E for looking after the post pet 103 staying in the roomis clicked on the GUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’ as shown inFIG. 31, there is opened a pulldown menu 125 specifying items such as‘state of the pet’, ‘wash’ or ‘refreshments’ showing the contents ofcare as shown in FIG. 33. If the item ‘refreshments’ is selected, thereis opened a window 130 showing a list of names of refreshments,remaining quantity and quality of the refreshments, as shown in FIG. 34.In the window 130 showing the list of names of refreshments, there are a‘discard’ button for discarding of the selected refreshments and a‘serve’ button for giving the selected refreshments to the post pet 103.If any of the listed refreshments is selected and the ‘serve’ button 122clicked, the selected refreshment, for example a candy 109, is put on atable 108 as shown in FIG. 35. Thus, the candy 109 is given to the postpet 103 staying in the room. Although there are provided a number ofsorts of refreshments as default, an up-to-date list of refreshments maybe procured, such as by downloading from the WWW server on the Internet,and appended to the ‘refreshments’ folder present in the same directoryas the PostPet.exe which is the execution file or the E-mail sendingprogram by way of adding the new ‘refreshments’ file.

If the item ‘wash’ displayed on the pulldown menu shown in FIG. 32 isselected, the post pet 103 takes a bath using a pail 123 on the GUIpicture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’, as shown in FIG. 36. At this time,a message reading: “Taking Bath” is displayed on the lower side of theGUI picture 100 of the ‘PostPet (Room)’.

The post pet 103 has become dirty due to outing for mail dispatch ortaking refreshments. The dirty state is shown by dots on the post pet103 as shown in FIG. 36. These dots are removed on selecting the item‘wash’ displayed on the care pulldown menu 125 to get the pet take abath.

If an item ‘Re-ordering’ displayed on the care pulldown menu 125 isselected, a ‘re-ordering’ window 135 shown in FIG. 38 is opened. If adesired room, such as a hybrid cat set shown netted in FIG. 38, isselected, and a changed button 136 is pushed, the room re-ordering isperformed as shown in FIG. 39. Although there are provided a number oftypes of room re-ordering as default, an up-to-date list of refreshmentsmay be procured, such as by downloading from the WWW server on theInternet, such as from the following URL:http.://www,so-net.or.jp/postpet/index. html, and appended to the‘plug-in’ folder present in the same directory as the PostPet.exe, whichis the execution file of the E-mail sending program, by way of addingthe new ‘room re-ordering’ file.

If an item ‘state of pet’ displayed on the care pulldown menu 125 isselected, the window 138 shown in FIG. 40 is opened for displaying thestate of the pet. Depending upon the state of the pet displayed on thewindow 138, the user can recognize the sort, name, sex, age, degree ofhappiness, brain, condition, hungriness, slimness, pocket money andcomment. The degree of happiness or brain can be variably represented bypet parameter values.

Between personal computers 22 having the mailer function similar to thatof the personal computer 21 having the above-described mailer function,E-mails can be exchanged by the post pet 103. If the personal computer21 executes E-mail sending by the post pet 103A to send the E-mail tothe personal computer 22, the latter executes the reception subroutineshown in FIG. 12 to check the E-mail reception time by the post pet 103Aas shown by the time chart shown in FIG. 47. If the time is within themail life, the post pet 103A is displayed on the screen of the displaydevice 21B to automatically return the processed agent parameters.

If the sending side personal computer 21 executes the E-mail sending bythe post pet 103A, the post pet 103 is absent that is outing, on the GUIpicture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’, until the agent parameters of the postpet 103A are returned from the receiver such that the post pet 103cannot execute mail sending. However, if the agent parameters arereturned automatically within the mail life, the sole post pet 103A canbe used repeatedly for sending the E-mails one-by-one.

In the sending personal computer 21, the operation determined by theautomatically returned agent parameters is executed by the post pet103A. Further, if a post pet 103B is registered as an agent on thereceiving side personal computer 22, the agent parameters of the postpet 103B are changed, upon reception of the E-mail by the post head 103Asent from the personal computer 21, by the interaction with the post pet103A performing the operation as determined by the agent parametersannexed to the E-mail.

If, when the personal computer 21 executes the E-mail sending by thepost pet 103A to send the E-mail to the personal computer 22, thepersonal computer 21 fails to execute the reception subroutine shown inFIG. 11, that is, if the personal computer 22 is not connected to thecommunication network, the E-mail is reserved in the mail server on theInternet service provider 12 such that the E-mail is received at a timepoint the personal computer 22 is connected to the communicationnetwork. In this case, the post pet 103A stays in the mail server untilthe E-mail is received. Thus, with the sending personal computer 21,mail sending by the post pet 103A cannot be executed, with the post pet103A being absent, that is when the post pet 103A is on an outing, onthe GUI picture of the ‘PostPet (Room)’. Therefore, the E-mail sent bythe post pet 103A is designed to have a preset life, such that, if theagent parameters of the post pet 103A are not returned from thereceiving side within the mail life period, the agent parameters of thepost pet 103A are automatically generated upon expiration of the maillife period for causing the post pet 103A to appear on the GUI pictureof the ‘PostPet (Room)’.

Upon connection to the communication network, the receiving sidepersonal computer 22 checks the reception timing of the E-mail by thepost pet 103A to determine whether the time is within the mail lifeperiod based on the sending data and time information of the agentparameters annexed to the E-mail and on the mail life periodinformation. If the time is within the mail life period, the processedparameters are automatically returned after waiting until thecommencement of the above-mentioned reception subroutine. On the otherhand, if the reception timing of the E-mail by the above-mentioned postpet 103A is after the expiration of the mail life period, the post pet103A is not displayed since the agent parameters are not returned evenif the above-mentioned reception subroutine is executed.

The pet arrival confirmation mail function, which is an additionalfunction of the automatic mail return processing of the step SP57 ofFIG. 11, is hereinafter explained.

For making the animation display on the E-mail sending side GUI picture100 for indicating the state of the post pet 103 returning home, themain text 202 of the pet mail received on the receiving side is deletedat step SP57. In addition, the agent parameters 203 are processed on thebasis of actuation by the user so that only the processed agentparameters 203 are annexed to the mail header 201 for automatic returnmail. This enables the Email sending side to make animation display onthe GUI picture 100 showing the post pet 103 returning home as shown inFIGS. 28 to 30 by the above-mentioned processing at the step SP49.

The function of automatic return mailing to the sender for advising theeffect of arrival of the post pet as a text message of the E-mail, inaddition to automatic return mailing of the agent parameters 203, is thepet arrival confirming function.

Referring to FIGS. 52 to 55 showing the processing flow, an ‘automaticreturn mail A’ is automatically returned from the receiving sidepersonal computer 22 of the user B via mail server 11D to the personalcomputer 21 of the sending side user A. In addition, ‘automaticallyreturned mail A’, a ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’ is automaticallyreturned from the receiving side personal computer 22 of the user B viamail server 11D to the personal computer 21 of the sending side user A.

This ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’ is automatically generated by theE-mail sending/receiving program of the receiving side personal computer22 of the user B.

It is assumed that, in a GUI picture 140 of a setup shown in FIG. 55,the user A sets ‘Momo’ as the name of his or her pet, while the user Bsets ‘Mippi’ as the name of his or her pet.

The following mail is then set as the ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’.

That is, a ‘secret diary’ is automatically set as the title (Subject),and a main text reading, for example:

“Today, I went (to the user B).

I played with Mippi.

I was hit a little.

I was hit many times.

Momo.” is set automatically.

This ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’, in addition to the ‘automaticallyreturned mail A’, is automatically returned from the receiving sidepersonal computer 22 of the user B via mail server 11D to the personalcomputer 21 of the sending side user A.

This adds the ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’ entitled ‘secret diary’ tothe reception list of the user A, as is the usual E-mail.

This ‘pet arrival confirmation mail’, automatically generated by theE-mail sending/receiving program of the personal computer 22 of the userB, has the main text corresponding to the act of the user B on the postpet who delivered the mail, such as the act of caressing or hitting.This gives not only the practical effect of confirming the delivery ofthe E-mail to the receiving side but also the psychological effect thatthe keeper can actually feel the fact that the post pet is serving onhis or her behalf.

It is noted that the behavior of the post pet is determined by the agentparameters 203 as follows:

Specifically, the relative intensities of the pseudo-desires aredetermined by the environment of the post pet and the stimuli from theuser. Each desire agency has a score and sensitivity, whilst eachbehavior unit adds new scores with the scores of each desire agency asan input. The behavior unit having the maximum score is manifested.

The score of the behavior unit and the desire agency is calculated by:new score=old score+(input×sensitivity)

with the sensitivity being the depth of the relation between each desireagency and the behavior unit and the input element. The sensitivityitself is also changed with input.

That is, the feeling unit determining the post pet behavior captureschanged values of environmental parameters of the post pet at step A,determines the behavior based on the changed environmental parameters atstep B, judges the behavior taken at step C and modifies the value ofthe inner parameters at step D by way of performing event processing.

Specifically, the agencies A1 to A18 of various desires receivesenvironmental information items E1 to E7, specifying the environment ofthe input post pet, such as age, intellect, physical strength, vigor,intimacy, dirtiness or hungriness, and the information on stimuli,specifying the stimuli on the post pet from the user, such as hitting,kicking or dispatching an E-mail, as input, in order to check theenvironmental information items E1 to E7, through an age checker C5, anintelligence checker C6, a physical strength checker C3, a vigor checkerC4, a like-don't like checker C5, an apparel checker C6 and a hungrinesschecker C7, while directly checking the information on stimuli, forcalculating respective scores. Each of behavior units U1 to U25 has thescores of the desire agencies, thus calculated, as the input, and thebehavior unit having the maximum score is started. That is, the feelingunit is made up of a basic agency A, a checker C and a behavior unit U,as shown in FIG. 51 showing the basic units for reaction.

The above-mentioned desire agencies may be exemplified by a mousesearcher A1 desirous to search for a mouse, a food searcher A2 desirousto search for food, a toy searcher A3 desirous to search a toy, abathroom seeker A4 who seeks a bathroom, a sleep liker A5 desirous ofsleep, a speech liker A6 desirous to have a chat, a sampling liker A7desirous to make sampling, a writer A8 desirous to write letters, aneater A9 having strong appetite, a recollector A10 desirous to recollectthe past, a soothsayer A11 desirous to make prophets, a rioter A12desirous to make rages, a quietness liker A13 who likes quietness, aquarrel liker A14 desirous to make quarrels, a caress liker A15 desirousto be caressed, a searcher A16 desirous to make searches, a reflectionliker desirous to be reflective and an evaluation liker A18 desirous tomake evaluations.

The behavior units may be exemplified by a walking unit U1 for animatedrepresentation of the walking motion, a running unit U2 for animatedrepresentation of the running operation, a sitting unit U3 for animatedrepresentation of the sitting operation, a sit-and-raise-one-hand unitU4 for animated representation of the motion for sitting and raising onehand, a sit-and-raise-both-hands unit U5 for animated representation ofthe motion for sitting and raising both hands, astandup-and-raise-one-hand unit U6 for animated representation for themotion of standing up and raising one hand, astandup-and-raise-both-hands unit U7 for animated representation for themotion of standing up and raising both hands, a calling unit U8 foranimated representation for the calling motion, a carry-and-walk unit U9for animated representation for the carrying and walking motion, ahand-clapping unit U10 for animated representation for the hand-clappingmotion, a standup-and-riot unit U11 for animated representation for thestanding up and rioting operation, a lie-and riot unit U12 for animatedrepresentation for the lying and rioting operation, an eat-and-writeunit U13 for animated representation for the eating and writingoperation, a toilette unit U14 for animated representation for the goingto the bathroom, a hit unit U15 for animated representation for thehitting operation, a defense unit U16 for animated representation forthe defending operation, a sleeping unit U17 for animated representationfor the sleeping operation, a fall-down unit U18 for animatedrepresentation for the falling-down operation, a nodding unit U19 foranimated representation for the nodding operation, a dancing unit U20for animated representation for the dancing operation, a swinging unitU21 for animated representation for the swinging operation, anstand-upside-down unit U22 for animated representation for thestand-upside-down operation, a put-into-order unit U23 for animatedrepresentation for the putting-into-order or housing operation, aspecial technique unit U24 for animated representation for showing thespecial technique, and a carrying unit U25 for animated representationfor the carrying operation.

In the present embodiment, about 50 illustrative sentences are providedfor the post pet 103. These sentences are ranked depending on the‘intellect’ of the post pet 103. For example, if the eat-write unit U13is started, an illustrative legend belonging to a rank ‘intellect’ atthe time point is selected at random. The intellect of the post pet 103is varied depending on the age E1 of the post pet 103 as set by the timeelapsed since registration in the user computer or the serial numberinformation 203 specifying the number of mail handled by the post pet103.

The selected sentence is sent as the E-mail on randomly selecting thecounterpart of the E-mailing to whom the user has so far sent E-mails,including the user.

Among the illustrative sentences voluntarily sent by the post pet 103,there are such sentences as “ah-” or “I say-” uttered when the pet isjust installed and is at a low intellectual stage; “I have realized thestructure of mailing-it is rather simple” uttered when the pet is at amedium intellectual stage; “All's well for me” uttered when the pet isat an advanced intellectual stage; and a farewell mail: “My time seemsto have come to a close—I can no longer think—I'm going lest you shouldfeel sad—I've been happy So long”. These sentences are providedseparately or in common for different pet species.

The post pet 103A of the present embodiment can voluntarily send to theuser or to his or her counterpart an E-mail with an illustrativesentence running: “My name is Momo—please remember me”. The scores ofthe eat-write unit U13 is varied with the age E1, intellect E2, bodilystrength E3, or the vigor E4 of the post pet 103, and is automaticallyreset at a timing the post pet voluntarily sends an E-mail. Bodilystrength E3 or the vigor E4 of the post pet 103 are varied with thestimuli from or the contents of experiences with the user or his or herE-mailing counterparts. For example, the bodily strength of the post pet103 is lowered or increased upon sending an E-mail or upon eating orsleeping, respectively. On the other hand, the vigor E4 of the post pet103 is lowered or increased upon being persecuted or caressed by theuser or his or her counterparts, respectively. This enables the post pet103 to send many E-mails voluntarily to the user or his or hercounterparts.

For preventing the user from disliking the post pet 103 as a result ofthe increased age E1 or intellect E2 of the post pet 103 resulting inthe increased number of times of dispatching E-mails to the user or tohis or her counterparts and in repeated occurrences of the samesentences, a ‘life’ is set for the post pet 103.

This ‘life’ for the post pet 103 is two years and is varied with thephysical strength E3 or the vigor E4.

The post pet 103, whose life has come to a close, sends the final E-mailreading, for example: “Momo now goes to an unknown place . . . Thank youfor your attention to me . . . So long” to the user or to his or hercounterparts to stop the function as an agent.

With the above-described E-mail system, the ‘post pet’ of the personalcomputer 21 of the user A encodes the agent parameters as a mail of theMIME format along with the main text of the mail carried by the pet Aand sends the encoded mail A to the destination, that is, to the user Bas shown in FIG. 52. This eliminates the pet A from the personalcomputer 21 of the user A.

If next the ‘post pet’ of the user B of the destination executes mailcheck, the mail A is captured by the ‘post pet’ of the personal computer22 of the user B, as shown in FIG. 53.

Then, the ‘post pet’ of the user B records changes in the state of thepet A caused by various events occurring in the pet room of the user Band sends the pet A back to the user A as the ‘automatically returnedmail A’, as shown in FIG. 54.

If the user A checks the mail by the ‘post pet’ of the personal computer21, the automatically returned mail A′ is captured as shown in FIG. 55.Thus, the ‘post pet’ of the personal computer 21 of the user A uses thenew agent parameters reflecting the events that occurred at the user B.

That is, by having the picture data of the agent on the personalcomputers of the user and the counterpart of the E-mailing of the user,and actually sending agent parameters controlling the agent's behavior,the result as though picture data of the agent were being sent isobtained. By sending the agent parameters instead of the picture data,the user connection time is shortened, such that, for a dial-up user,the Internet connection charges and telephone charges are reduced.Moreover, since the amount of exchanged data is relatively decreased,use of the resources of the Internet in their entirety may also bereduced.

Meanwhile, if the post pet is started first, the GUI picture 140 forselecting the pet is displayed as shown in FIG. 56, such that one of theTeddy-bear 103A, tortoise 103B, hybrid cat 103C and mini-rabbit 103D canbe selected. The parameters of ‘condition’, ‘temper’, ‘brain’ and‘slimness’ are varying at all times and are set by the timing ofselecting (clicking) the pet. It should be noted that the parameters asset by the timing of selecting (clicking) the pet are initial values,and are varied depending on the pet keeping state of the user. The items‘pet's name’ and ‘your name’ can be freely entered by the user.

In the post pet, the picture data of the pet are stored in the localdisc of the user, so that, if the number of pet types is increased infuture, these new pets cannot be represented. Thus, picture data of acharacter ‘hatena-kun’ (Mr. Question) shown in FIG. 4 is used. That is,if a mail is sent by a post pet of a newly defined character to a userhaving only picture data of Teddy bear 103A, tortoise 103B, a hybrid cat103C, and a mini-rabbit 103D, the hatena-kun 103E is displayed, as shownin FIG. 57. Thus, it is possible with the post pet to cope with anincreased number of the pets by using the hatena-kun 103E, or adding newpets.

Although the foregoing description has been made in connection withapplication of the present invention to the Internet, the presentinvention can be applied to a mail communication system exploiting apersonal handy phone or other mobile communication terminals capable ofsupporting the mail communication on the Intranet or PHS Internet AccessForum Standard (PIAFS), in addition to mail exchange on the Internet.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as set forth in the hereafter appended claims.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present subjectmatter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is thereforeintended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appendedclaims.

1. A computer readable medium for providing a virtual agent executableon a processor for controlling the virtual agent, wherein the agentincludes at least one inner parameter and at least one outer parameter,wherein the medium stores a first agent parameter controlling a firstagent kept by a first person a first computer operated by the firstperson; stores a first image data of the first agent on the firstcomputer; stores a second image data of a second agent being kept bysecond person on the first computer; stores a state of the first agentin a first storage device; displays the first agent on a first screenconnected to the first computer based on the first image data and thefirst agent parameter when the state of the first agent represents otherthan an absent state; and wherein the first agent parameter is sent tothe first computer through a communication network; sets the state ofthe first agent to an absent state corresponding to sending the firstagent parameter.
 2. The computer readable medium according to claim 1,wherein a behavior of the virtual agent is determined by one of theagent parameters sent via E-mail.
 3. A computer readable medium forproviding a virtual agent executable on a processor for controlling thevirtual agent, wherein the agent includes at least one inner parameterand at least one outer parameter, wherein a first agent parameter isstored in a first storage device, the first agent parameter controllinga first virtual agent kept by a first person; wherein the first agentparameter is transferred from the first storage device to a first memoryfor controlling the first agent at a first computer operated by thefirst person; wherein a state of the first agent is stored in the firststorage device; and wherein the first agent parameter is sent from thefirst memory to a second computer remote from both the first storage andthe first computer through a communication network; wherein the state ofthe first agent is set to an absent state corresponding to sending thefirst agent parameter; and wherein the first agent is displayed on adisplay unit when the state represents other than the absent state. 4.The computer readable medium according to claim 3, wherein a behavior ofthe virtual agent is determined by one of the agent parameters sent viaE-mail.
 5. A computer readable medium for providing a virtual agentexecutable on a processor for controlling the virtual agent, wherein theagent includes at least one inner parameter and at least one outerparameter, wherein a first agent parameter at a first computer operatedby a first person is sent to a second computer remote from the firstcomputer through a communication network, wherein the second computer isoperated by a second person and the first agent parameter controls afirst agent kept by the first person; wherein a state of the first agentis stored in the first storage device; wherein the first agent parametersent from the second computer is received using the first computer;wherein a second agent parameter sent from second computer is receivedusing the first computer, the second agent parameter controlling asecond virtual agent kept by the second person; and wherein the receivedsecond agent parameter is sent to the second computer using the firstcomputer; wherein the state of the first agent is set to an absent statecorresponding to sending the first agent parameter; and wherein thefirst agent is displayed on a display unit when the state representsother than the absent state.
 6. The computer readable medium accordingto claim 5, wherein a behavior of the virtual agent is determined by oneof the agent parameters sent via E-mail.